"Obviously, given the ethnic and sociocultural make-up of modern Quebec society, only the pure laine Quebecois could arguably be considered a people," Harper, who was then the Reform Party MP for Calgary West, told the House of Commons on Dec. 11, 1995, during a debate on Quebec's right to self-determination.
"While they constitute a majority of the Quebec population, they do not constitute a majority in each region of Quebec. This produces a curious result, that if the Quebecois pure laine are a people and if they have a right to secede, they could not claim the right to territorial integrity."
"If the strict definition of the word people is applied, only the aboriginal people in the North would likely qualify. This is clearly not in the interest of sovereignists and quite probably the reason why the Belanger-Campeau commission did not explore the point further."
The above is something Dion could use to great effect. Repeatedly ask if Harper still believes Quebec is divisible.
I was thinking this today, what are the Tories planning for Dion come election time, in his home province? Apart from the attack ads, the Conservatives haven't really tipped their hands on the strategy. I expect they will try to paint Dion as a stubborn federalist, out of touch with the majority of Quebecers. Quotes and the past will clearly be brought up, in an attempt to put Dion on the defensive. If that is the case, Liberals can't fall into the trap, and the above quotes serve as excellent fodder to cut Harper off at the knees.
Dion is at his best when he is posing the questions, on ground of his choosing, as he demonstrated during the Quebec battles. I would put the above into the file, because Harper's ambiguity when it comes to Quebec must be defined, and the glare of an election won't allow for convenient sidesteps.
2 comments:
One thing: A lot of federalist Quebecers believe Quebec is divisible. Many LIBERALS supported the partition movement (rightfully)
The partition movement hasn't been discussed since the mid-1990s, but as I can tell you and am happy to tell you this movement took a serious swipe at the separatist movement in 1995. I'd even go so far to say that it saved the country. I remember being at the Niemis event at McGill in early 1996 and they were advocating partition. The room was packed with francophone federalists. A fact not lost on the separatists, who prior to that blamed it on the Anglo Quebec population. I wouldn't suggest going after harper with this or we could be giving him a very nice gift.
sinestra
Those are fair points, and I appreciate the insights. I was thinking more about the soft nationalist that Harper is courting. I don't think we have much to worry about with Dion when it comes to hard core federalists.
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